I'm trying to understand how the database works. Please excuse me if this information has been asked before, I have tried to search, but can't think of a good query (database, tag, and metadata are all very common terms )

I know that when the database is created, metadata is loaded into it from the file tags. So far, so good.

I assume that if I use the masstagger, the changes are written both to the files and the database? What if I use an external tag editor? I know I can manually reload data into the database, but is that required every time?

In addition, is it possible to have data in the database but not maintained in file tags? Examples I am thinking of here would be volatile data such as "last played" information, play counts, or rating type information. I realise that this sort of thing is generally a fuction of the plugin which maintains the data, but is there a way I can tell, for a particular plugin, where it maintains its data?

The reason I am asking all of this is that I want to keep my music archive "clean", as a (logically read-only) archive. I can play direct from my archive, as long as I can be sure that nothing will write tag data to the files without my direct request. If I can't do this, I have to consider whether I should have a second "working" copy of my music - the last thing I want is for a crash to leave the only copy of a track unreadable...

Thanks for any assistance. If this topic has already been discussed, my apologies (and I'd be happy with a pointer to the relevant topics, or a search keyword I could use).

Paul.

The database in foobar2000 works as a cache to prevent rereading metadata from files every time it is used. Conceptually, changes are first written to the files and then to the cache. Given this, it is not possible to have database-only metadata fields (except using crude hacks). However, you can choose to update the cache only and prevent updates to files completely.

Thanks. I see now. One question - when you say are you referring to the "Block tag update operations"?

Also, I assume that if I do block tag updates, and then make tag changes outside of foobar2000, I'd have to refresh the database to see them - which would lose any non-tag metadata.

Like you say, using the database as "external" metadata looks like it is basically a gross hack. Fooey. Looks like I have to forego things like last played metadata, or keep 2 copies of my music - one as a read-only archive, and a second for playing.

Silly question - does any player support the sort of external data I'm describing? I came to the idea because I quite like the idea of maintaining last played info, but I don't want to write tags on every play operation. But it's a purely theoretical idea, I don't have enough experience of any media player to know if it's beein implemented.

Paul

I'm also a victim of this inconvenience. I recently formalized a tagging regimen for myself, so as long as I tag everything exactly how I want it before first playing it in foobar, my play count data is kept intact. and anything else i might want to change in the tags would probably be so minor at this point (spell correction, for example) that i could easily use foobar to edit the tags, also preserving playcount data.